Jonathan Ive: Best Is Yet To Come

Apple’s design guru, Jonathan Ive, says that the projects his company is working on are the “most important and best work” they have ever done. What those projects are, of course, remains something close to a state secret. Still, Ive did provide some interesting comments in his interview with The Telegraph.

Back in the United Kingdom to receive a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II, Ive said that things at Apple haven’t changed since Steve Jobs died last year. In fact, they’re “developing products in exactly the same way,” says Apple’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design.

iPod Classics

While Ive, who arrived at Apple in 1992, wouldn’t name his favorite product, he did emphasize the importance of simplicity to the design process, stating:

The quest for (hardware) simplicity has to pervade every part of the process. It really is fundamental.

The most interesting part of Ive’s interview was when the conversation turned to iOS, Apple’s operating system on the iPhone/iPod touch and iPad. Specifically, Ive was asked to explain Apple’s use of “skeuomorphism, a tendency for new designs to retain ornamental features of the old design.” For example, the calendar in Apple’s Macs and on iOS that uses “fake leather texture and even fake stitching.”

Ever the diplomat, Ive stated:

My focus is very much working with the other teams on the product ideas and then developing the hardware and so that’s our focus and that’s our responsibility. In terms of those elements you’re talking about, I’m not really connected to that.

What product does Ive want to be remembered for?

It’s a really tough one. A lot does seem to come back to the fact that what we’re working on now feels like the most important and the best work we’ve done, and so it would be what we’re working on right now, which of course I can’t tell you about.

Bondi Blue iMac

With Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference set to begin on June 11, we’re sure to hear more about those “important” products in the coming weeks. Not only could we see a new line of Mac desktops, but an iPad mini could also be announced. In addition, we will likely see a completely redesigned iPhone later this year, as well as a significantly altered iPad 4 in 2013.

Finally, Ive could also be working on Apple’s long-rumored iTV, which could arrive in the next year or two.